The song Bruce Springsteen wrote about reuniting the E Street Band: “That’s the legend”
Bruce Springsteen was never someone who took any of his hits for granted. He had always been lucky enough to be graced with the greatest songwriting chops of his generation, and hearing songs like ‘Born to Run’ only proved him to be one of the finest lyricists in the world. But what’s the point in having the greatest songbook known to man if you don’t have anyone to play along to it?
Even though Springsteen had the same kind of lyrical expertise as someone like Bob Dylan, he was never going to be on Mr Zimmerman’s level with an acoustic guitar. He had his moments where he went out onstage by himself, but listening to albums like Nebraska was a further indication of the dark corners that would have never got him signed had he not created tunes such as ‘Thunder Road’ and ‘Badlands’ first.
Then again, Springsteen was always going to be a lost soul without the E Street Band behind him. He had the songs, but everyone in the band gave him the power to play to the best of his ability, whether that was conducting them through a lot of their longer tunes like ‘Rosalita’ or having everyone crash out during the breakdown of ‘Born to Run’ before they come screaming back in again during the final verse.
It might have only been musical accompaniment, but that camaraderie was always the number-one thing. The rapport that ‘The Boss’ had with Steven Van Zandt and Clarence Clemons was incredible, and even if they weren’t the greatest musicians in the world, there was a story being told through their performances onstage that got down to the core of what it meant to be a true rock and roller.
So when Springsteen started working on his own in the early 1990s, it wasn’t clear what was wrong until everyone realised the E Street Band was gone. Albums like Tunnel of Love were perfectly acceptable records, but by the time he hit albums like Lucky Town, no one in the era of grunge was willing to work with songs about him trying to be happy and mellow without his friends behind him.
When he finally got the band back together, ‘Blood Brothers’ was the perfect way of reintroducing them. A greatest hits record has never been indicative of a band’s most artistic work, but hearing this next to ‘Born in the USA’ and ‘Badlands’ helped remind everyone of the power that the band had at their best and what power that could have again if they were all focused on the same goal.
‘The Boss’ even remembered how important the band were years later when inducting them into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, saying, “[Steven Van Zandt] was petitioning me to push the Hall of Fame to induct us all together. I was proud of my independence. Steve was quiet but persistent, and he said, ‘Yeah, I understand, but Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, that’s the legend.’”
And listening to all of their albums together, ‘Blood Brothers’ does a better way of saying it all for their records together. Most people can pay attention to the one whose ass was on the cover of Born in the USA, but judging the band solely on that basis is like judging Jimi Hendrix without Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding or crediting Neil Young with everything without mentioning Crazy Horse. Yes, they were still phenomenal, but their stories could only be told with the band behind them.
